Securus Technologies Reports Significant Progress in Accessibility, Education, And Advancing Technology

Securus reduced phone rates, provided 50% customer savings, and introduced new tablet software and a pre-paid card with discounted payment services as part of their commitment to actionable reform.

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Securus Technologies

Nov 11, 2020, 09:00 ET

DALLAS, Nov. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aventiv Technologies and its corrections-services subsidiary Securus Technologies, today reported progress made toward comprehensive, transformation commitments announced in mid-January to make the company's products and services accountable, accessible, and affordable. These commitments benefit incarcerated Americans and correctional facilitates across the United States.

As part of this initiative, Securus aggressively reduced rates for its correctional communications services by renegotiating 59 contracts with local agencies nationwide, to eliminate higher-than-average rates and fees. These efforts have resulted in:

Rates that continue to decline, bringing the nationwide average cost of a 15-minute phone call to $2.25; and
Year to date through October, more than 50 percent of all calls on a Securus platform cost less than $1.00.

In addition to these significant rate reductions, Aventiv furthered its commitment to offering industry-leading low-cost options for incarcerated Americans and their families, including:

Eliminating third-party financial service fees on vendors like Western Union and MoneyGram that resulted in a 50 percent savings for customers.
Introducing paySupreme™, a pre-paid card that allows friends and family of incarcerated individuals to send money to a loved one's trust account at a 30 percent discounted rate.
Announced a new subscription pricing model for phone calls designed to provide consumers with a simple, pre-set monthly charge that allows for even more phone conversations with loved ones while simplifying billing and payment. The pilot will be available by the end of 2020 at select sites.

Aventiv also deployed several key initiatives that advance the January commitments, including:

Education, Reentry, & Recidivism

Finalized partnership with Televerde – which aligns with Aventiv's Second Chance Hiring Principles and commitment to further invest in re-entry services — employing forty-five incarcerated women to support customer service efforts with the goal of increasing quality service and empathy in interacting with consumers. The program's comprehensive offerings provides real-life job experience, certification and skills and professional development that will change their lives for the better.

According to a recent study conducted by Arizona State University's Seidman Research Institute, incarcerated women who work with Televerde have a recidivism rate that is 91 percent lower than the national average of women released from state prisons according to the Bureau of justice Statistics.
94 percent of all Televerde graduates are still employed five years after their release and they earn four times the salary of other formerly incarcerated women who did not participate in the program.

Deepened commitments to educational offerings and celebrating the 600th degree conferral from our post-secondary Lantern program.
Added more than 600 new students to the post-secondary Ashland University program across Arizona, Missouri and North Dakota.
Expanded CourseShare content providers by adding Academy of Hope and AcomplishED Ventures.

Listening & Responsiveness

Hosting regular virtual meetings with stakeholders that include facility administrators, elected officials, current and former regulators, industry advocates, families of incarcerated Americans, and the formerly incarcerated to facilitate conversation and better meet their needs.
Engaging conversations led to the organization's eBook catalog to be published on Aventiv.com, helping to provide more transparency for the free offering.

Technology & Innovation

Continuing to invest in the physical infrastructure of the facilities that partner with Aventiv, the organization has invested more than 40 million dollars in technologies in 2020 to date.
Launching the new JPS6 tablet and Securus Unity software platform to provide more advanced technological options for incarcerated Americans.
Utilizing Securus Technologies' suite of investigative and security tools, the organization was able to intercept more than 7,000 cases of suspicious activity since January 1, 2020, including threats, violence, witness tampering, financial fraud and other unlawful actions.

"Despite the exceptional challenges caused by the pandemic, we have achieved significant progress against our commitments," said Dave Abel, President and CEO of Aventiv Technologies. "We have continued investing our technology, leveraged sentiments from key stakeholders to improve transparency, and developed an expansive COVID-19 emergency program all while reducing our rates and creating new and affordable programs for our customers. I am extremely proud of the work our team has done this year and know that even more progress lies ahead."

Aventiv also continued the organization's commitment to working with our facility partners to provide free and reduced rate communications options for incarcerated Americans and their loved ones so they can stay connected during the unprecedented pandemic. To date, those offerings include:

30.2 million free calls, totaling 215.9 million free minutes of phone connections
5.5 million free video connections
16.1 million free JPay Stamps for electronic messaging to 507,000 incarcerated individuals
172,729 free monthly subscriptions to Newsstand
613,788 free game downloads

Aventiv and Securus will continue to release progress updates on the organization's transformation commitments, including making products and services more affordable and accessible. For past progress reports and a detailed overview of the company's commitments, goals, and achievements, visit https://transformation.aventiv.com/.

ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Securus Technologies, a subsidiary of Aventiv Technologies, serves more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,100,000 incarcerated individuals across North America. The Aventiv organization is committed to providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, incarcerated self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. For more information, please visit www.Aventiv.com. Aventiv is a portfolio company of Platinum Equity. Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with a portfolio of approximately 40 operating companies that serve customers around the world.

SOURCE Securus Technologies